Ben Bernanke

Alex Wong / Getty

Pro: The Federal Reserve chief, a coolheaded, scholarly expert on the Great
Depression, was the right man at the right time to tackle the financial meltdown, moving quickly to make trillions of dollars in credit available, calming the markets and helping avert an economic disaster.

Con: May have exacerbated the crisis by letting Lehman Brothers fail. And is
it too much to ask for a little charisma?